Like Me, Love Me, Marry Me
by Destiny45
Summary: Ron tries to figure out how to propose to Hermione. [CONTAINS DEATHLY HALLOWS SPOILERS!]


Disclaimer: Anything related to "Harry Potter" does not belong to me.

_A/N: So I was lying in bed after finishing my first-ever Harry Potter fic when the plot for another one came into my head and wouldn't let me go to sleep until I had written it down:-) Ron and Hermione are my favorite couple from the series, and I hope I can do them justice! _

Like Me, Love Me, Marry Me

_(Takes place a few years after Lord Voldemort's defeat) _

"When did you first realize you liked me?" Hermione asked Ron, snuggling up against her boyfriend's shoulder as they lay in bed together on a rare, lazy, Sunday afternoon.

"Oy Hermione," complained Ron, not one for usually being so open and emotional.

"Come on, Ron," urged Hermione, wrapping an arm around his chest. "I want to know."

"Right from the start our first year at Hogwarts, I guess," recollected Ron; his voice growing distant. "With your fuzzy hair flying in all directions and waving your wand in my face like a know-it-all when I couldn't get my feather to levitate."

"I did not act like a know-it-all! Well, OK, maybe a little bit," conceded Hermione, only after receiving raised eyebrows from Ron.

"Well, what about you?" returned Ron. "When did you realize you first liked me?"

"First year, too," responded Hermione immediately. "When you kept blowing up all your spells in your face. You looked so silly!!!"

"Silly, huh?" grumbled Ron, turning over on his back away from her a little hurt.

"Adorable, precious, still handsome," cooed Hermione, kissing Ron on the check as she curled up on her side against his back. "Now tell me. When did you first know you loved me?"

"When you punched Draco Malfoy during our third year," grinned Ron, turning back around to face her. "I knew at that moment I would never know a girl as wonderful as you. When did you know you first loved me?"

"Still our first year," replied Hermione. "When you mounted the knight in the wizard's chess game to help Harry get through to the Sorcerer's Stone."

"That early?!?" exclaimed Ron.

"You were so brave," whispered Hermione admiringly. "But here's the tough one," she added teasingly. "When did you figure out you wanted to marry me?"

"After I left you and Harry while we were searching for the horcruxes our seventh year," responded Ron instantly.

"WHAT??? Ron, I mean, how could… I was joking!!!" gasped Hermione, growing flustered that he had actually produced answer and so quickly.

"Well, I'm being serious," replied Ron. "I felt so horrible after leaving you two, and the thought of if I had let anything happen to either of you… Hermione, I realized once I came back that I never wanted to be without you again."

"If you realized back then that you wanted to marry me, how come it has taken you so long to ask?" continued Hermione with her teasing.

"Come on, Hermione, I had to save up for this first," said Ron, looking at his brainiac girlfriend like she was dense as he pulled out a small velvet box from inside the nightstand by the bed. "Diamonds cost a lot of money. You're smart. You should know that."

"Ron, is that what I think it is?" shrieked Hermione, now even more shocked than she had been moments before.

"Hermione Granger, will you marry me?" asked Ron in a wavering voice, now so nervous that he half-dropped, half-tumbled off the bed onto one knee.

"I can't believe this is happening!" exclaimed Hermione, half-laughing, half-crying.

"But you just wanted to know why it had taken me so long to ask you to marry me if I'd known for years I had wanted to do it," protested Ron, genuinely looking confused. "I'm just trying to do what it seemed like you wanted me to do."

"Ron…" giggled Hermione, looking at her befuddled boyfriend adoringly.

"I want to make you happy," added Ron in all seriousness. "I'd do anything to make you happy, Hermione. So, will you marry me? 'Cause being on one knee is starting to hurt…"

"Of course!!!" shouted Hermione ecstatically, toppling Ron over on the floor as she leapt off the bed and into his arms. "I've known I've wanted to marry you from the start!"

"I like that answer the best so far!" grinned Ron from ear to ear as he proceeded to cover his fiancee's face with kisses.


End file.
